Oct 13th 2019
Well the weather has certainly been against us the last few weeks, but we are continuing to make good progress north and have installed around 7km of duct in the last 4 weeks and have now reached north of Timewell, heading up Timewell Hill.
Sadly we were unable to agree access with one landowner who refused consent to cross their land – some 80m, which has resulted in a 800m diversion, but that is now complete apart from 1 road crossing awaiting approval, and as always we are grateful for the support and co-operation of all the landowners who grant access. Once this road crossing is approved we will have continuous duct from Pixie Laughter to below Timewell Hill.
As always please feel free to share this update with any neighbours in the area, who might be interested in being included. Rural Gigabit Vouchers are currently still available, ensuring you each have no connection charge for the service.
Once you sign up we will add your property to the mapping, you may not hear from us immediately as we have to determine how we can service your area first, but we will be in touch as soon as we have a possible route to connect you.
We’ve been invited to a number of Parish Council meetings in the area, and there is strong interest to expand the network further which we are actively exploring. A community meeting will be held in Upton on 28th November.
Construction
The wet weather has prevented use of the Mole Plough, but we have been making slower progress with trenching the sections that can be completed without disturbing the land to much. As soon as we get a break in the rain we’ll Plough the next sections and with a couple of dry days we could be across the Devon / Somerset Border and heading nearer to Skilgate.
Trenching 
Trencher 
River Crossing
Our team have completed the next set of drop ducts to individual properties, so everything is ready to start blowing the fibre to the 1st few properties in the coming weeks.
The main cabinets have also arrived and the plinths for these should be set in the coming week.
Live Date
The new Openreach duct is complete, and Openreach are finalising the wayleave paperwork after a small delay. Once this is signed off, a commitment date will be issued for live service back to our Data Centre in Telehouse.
Our planned live date is still around November 2019 and will be confirmed as soon as possible.
Community Information
Skilgate Area – we currently have a good level of interest and have identified a number of route options particularly to the northern edge of the village. Our intention is to progress negotiating access on this northern route and then use this as a platform to access properties around the triangle. We are hoping to have the start of this route negotiated in the next few weeks and will then start processing vouchers for this section. Build will depend on the weather in the later part of 2019, but will progress where possible, particularly on the western side where vouchers are already approved.
Upton Area – following a positive Parish Council Meeting, we are exploring routes from Skilgate to Upton and will be discussing these at the community meeting on the 28th November. This meeting is open to residents from the wider area as well as Upton residents. We’d be looking to build this area in Spring 2020, allowing for 6 months of planning, access negotiation and signups.
Huish Champflower Area – once we have completed planning for the Upton area, we will look to plan this section following useful engagement from local landowners. We’d be looking to build in this area by Summer 2020.
Elsewhere. We are happy to look at communities in a wider arc from Skilgate, Shillingford and Morebath to further expand the network.
